Link fabric.



J. vF. DAILY.-

LINK FABRIC.

APPLICATION HLEnvocT. 29. 1911.

l ,257,323 Patented Feb. 26, 1918.

ATTORNE X JOSEPH F. DAILY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

'LINK FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 26, 1918.

Application filed October 29, 1917. Serial No. 199,058.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, J osnrH F. DAILY, a citizen of the United States,residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Link Fabrics, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part hereof. y

he present invention is directed to that class of wire fabrics known asthe link fabric, a form used to a considerable extent for purposes of abed-bottom or the resilient member on which the mattress and bedding aresupported. The invention has for its objects (l) to provide a fabricinvolving the use of a minimum quantity of wire, this result beingattained by dispensing with the employment of twisted links; (2) toprovide a fabric having a maximum resilience and one which will readilyyield and conform to the movements of the occupant of the bed; (3) toprovide a fabric which shall aiford a smooth surface of support for themattress or bedding; (i) to provide a fabric in which the links shall beeffectively locked to one another; (5) to provide a fabric which shallcontain a maximum number of joints on the presence of which theresilience of the fabric depends; and (6) to provide a fabric possessingfurther and other advantages the nature of which will be fully apparentfrom the following detailed description in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 represents a plan of a portieriof the improved fabric serving the purpose of a bed bottom; Fig. 2 is anenlarged vertical longitudinal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l; Fig. 3is an enlarged vertical cross-section on the line Bw?) of Fig. 1; Fig.1l is a tcp plan of one of the longitudinal units or pairs of linksentering into the construction of the fabric; Fig. 5 is an enlargedcrosssection on the line 5-5 of Fig. l; Fig. 6 is a top plan of one ofthe links detached; Fig. 7 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 8 is abottom plan of a slightly modified construction of longitudinal unit;and Fig. 9 is a side view of Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings, and for the present to Figs. 1 to 7inclusive, 1 represents one of the end rails of a bed-bottom frame, saidrail in the present instance being in the form of an angle bar, and wellunderstood in the art. Carried by the end rails are the helical springs:2 to which the ends of the fabric are secured. The improved fabriccomprises a series of pairs of longitudinally disposed wire links 3terminating at one end in hooks or loops a bent in the same direction,said direction being downward or away from the plane of the supportingsurface of the fabric when serving as a bed bottom or equivalentsupport. rlhe opposite ends of the links 3 terminate in hooks or loops 5Vdisposed in horizontal planes or at right angles to the planes ofdisposition of the loops i, the loop 5 of one link being bent in theopposite direction to the corresponding loop of the opposite link,thereby forming rightand left hooks, said hooks being superposed andtheir terminals crossing one another so as to form a closed compositeloop or eye c. The hook or loop 5 which is on top when the loops aresuperposed has its free end bent and extended downward or into a planesubstantially parallel to the planes of disposition of the loops Ll,said downwardly bent terminal forming a locking finger 5 which engagesthe outer side of the loop or hook 5 of the opposite link 3, therebypreventing the eye e from opening, preventing as it does any accidentalspreading of the intersecting terminals of the wires forming the lloops5 of' any pair of links. The purpose of bending downward the finger 5Afrom the upper loop 5 of the pair of superposed loops is to bring thepoint of the finger away from the plane of the supporting surface of thefabric to prevent the point from tearing the bedding or mattress. Thelocking' of the cross terminals of the superposed loops 5, 5, could ofcourse be effected by turning the free end of the bottom loop upward;and while such reversal would not fall outside the scope of the presentinvention, yet it would not be desirable in practice because of thedanger of the point of the wire tearing the bedding, and otherwisepresenting a rough supporting surface.

The eye e of one pair of links receives the adjacent terminal hooks l ofthe next pair of links and so on throughout the series, the eyes e ofthe terminal pairs of links at one end being coupled to the helicalsprings 2 secured to the end rail 1 at that end, and the loops t of theterminal pairs of links at the opposite end being coupled to the helicalsprings secured to the end rail (not shown) at the opposite end of thebed. The disposition of the units or links 3, 3, in pairs as described,with the loops et disposed in vertical planes and the loops 5 inhorizontal planes but turned in opposite directions (right and left)relatively to one another, causes the members of any pair of links todiverge from their points of anchor t1 e loops el toward their points ofconnection at the oye c with the loops i of the next succeeding` pair oflinks as clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawing. ln other words, theconverging terminals of one pair of links are coupled to the divergingterminals of the next` pair and so on throng i the series.

rEhe eyes e (which are necessarily closed as a result of the crossing orintersection of the freeV ends of the superposed loops or hooks areavailed of to receive the terminal hooks or loops 6 of the cross ortransverse links 7. rlhe eyes c being closed, it follows that the hooks6 of the cross-links can not work out of the ,yes to permit said linksto slide along the links 3 and away from their assigned position. Thecross-links are thus maintained in. permanent t ansverse alinementbetween the eyes e of successive pairs of links 3.

It will be observed that at each eye e there is a meeting or convergenceof not less thanv sin hooks, to wit-two hooks d, d, two hooks 5, and twohooks S, 6, any one hook having free play over another hook of theseries, this freedom of play between any two hooks forming a flexiblejoint which is ever free to yield to any movement of the body of theoccupant of the bed. The advantage of a large number of joints lies inthe fact that the joints make the fabric extremely sensitive andyielding, making such a fabric most comfortable to lie on, and mostdesirable for service as a bed bottom. In the present embodiment of myinvention the use of two independent hooks or loops 5, 5, whereby thereAis formed what may be termed a two-part eye c (instead of a onepart eyewhich could readily be formeel by PlTOPGFly bending and looping a singlewire length) serves to contribute to the plurality of joints oryielding` connections .in the region of cach eye as already pointed out.Each hook 5, 5, is free to yield independ ently of the other dependingon the character of strain imposed thereon. i one-part eye could neverbe as sensitive as a two-part eye where each part is left free to yieldindependently of the other parli as .the case in the presentconstruction'. .he number of strains imposed on the links f3, 7. and ontheir hooks, e, and 6, when the fabric is in service are indeed many,their' character dcpending on the movements of the bed occu pant; andwhere the joints of the fabric are sensitive and freely yield to thesemove ments, nothing more can be desired. r)The construction here shownand described constitutes an ideal fabric and fulfils the severalobjects and purposes for which the same was designed.

To provide a two-part eye such as c, it is not necessary to employ twoseparate strands or lengths of wire as shown in the figures abovereferred to. Thus, in the modification in Figs. 8 and 9, l show atwo-part eye e at the terminals of a single piece of bent wire 3', saideye being formed by the overlapping of the hooks 5, 5, the same as inthe first' form described. Where a single wire length is employedhowever it necessitates the formation at the medial point of the wire,ofv a single integral hook 4 which forms one of the terminals of theresultingl link or unit, said hook et taking the place of theindependent single hooks i, d, in the first. forni described. T hemodification just referred to (Figs. 8 and 9) however is not asdesirable as the first form for the reason that it is more expensive tomake, and second, the substitution of one hook Li formed by doubling thewire, for the two independent single hooks et, 4, reduces the number ofyielding joints in the region of the eye, thereby detracting in ameasure from the flexibility, elasticity and yielding qualities of thefabric.

The terms longitudinal and c"transverse as applied to the links orstrands are merely relative, that is to say they are intended to bringout the fact that one series of links are disposed in one direction andanother series in a direction transverse thereto. lt does notnecessarily follow howover that the sheet of fabric has its greaterdimension 'a the longitudinal direction, for a` fabric may have a. widthin excess of its length. ln the present instance the term longitudinalis used in connection with the links 3 because the end of the fabric issecured to the end rail l of a bed-bottoni. frame, which end rail istransverse to the longitudinal side rails (not shown) to which the links3 are parallel. The term hook herein must be interpreted broadly.contemplating as itdoes any loop be the same closed or open, or anyequivalent formation by which the member provided with said hook may becoupled to another member. rlhe fabric as constructed may be said to becomposed of a series of parallel rows of longitudinally disposed units,each unit coinprising a pair of links or wires (3, or their equivalent)terminating in hooks by which one unit is hinged or jointed to asucceeding unit, the hooks at one end pointing in one direction andbeing disposed at right angles to those at the opposite end which pointin opposite directions and are superposed to form a closed eye, thehooks of one unit pointing in the same direction being joint.- ed. tothe eye of a succeeding unit, said eye in addition being engaged by theadjacent 'terminals of thetransverse links on either side thereof,whereby two pairs of longitudinal links and two single transverse linksmeet at the eye terminal of one of the units aforesaid. The eyes beingclosed, the links 7 can not slip out of them, and hence the permanentretention of these links in their proper position is assured. Thetransverse links are likewise disposed in parallel rows, preferably atright angles to the direction of the rows of the longitudinal units,though I do not wish to be restricted specifically to a right angle. Thehooks 6 of the transverse links are bent in the same direction(downward) as the hooks 4 of the links 3, the terminal links 7 of theseries being connected to the side bars 8 the ends of which are coupledto the springs 2 as well understood in the art.

It is within the scope of my invention to reverse the links in alternatelongitudinal rows, thus bringing the eyes c of the links of one rowopposite the hooks fl of the opposite links in the adjacent row; or anyother arrangement of the rows'may be utilized so lonO as they arecomposed of the units as set forth above.

Having described my invention what I claim is:

l. In a fabric of the character described, a link unit comprising twowire links in juxtaposed relation and terminating at one end in hookformations disposed in a given plane, the opposite ends of the linksterminating in superposed hooks turned in opposite directions andcrossing one another to form a closed eye, said eye being disposed in aplane transverse to the plane of disposition of the hooks at theopposite end of the unit. 2. In a fabric of the character described, aseries of parallel rows each composed of units jointed to one another,said units comprising independent links disposed in pairs terminating atcorresponding ends in closed eyes and at the opposite ends in suitablehooks, the planes of disposition of the hooks being transverse to theplanes of disposition of the eyes, the hooked end of one unit couplingto the eye terminal of the next succeeding unit, and links disposedtransversely to the jointed units aforesaid and terminating at oppositeends in hooks engaging the eyes of the units.

3. A link fabric comprising a series of parallel rows of longitudinallydisposed units, each unit. comprising a pair of links r terminating atone end in hooks tending or pointing in the same direction and disposedin a given plane, and at the opposite end in hooks pointing in oppositedirections and disposed in planes transverse to the plane of dispositionof the first-mentioned hooks, the oppositely-pointing hooks beingsuperposed to form closed eyes, the hooks of one unit tending in thesame direction being coupled to the eye of a succeeding unit, andtransversely disposed links terminating in hooks engaging the eyes oneither side thereof, the hooks of the transverse links being bent in thesame direction as the hooks coupled to the eyes aforesaid.

el. A. bed-bottom wire link fabric comprising a series of parallel rowsof longitudinally disposed units each composed of a pair of linksdiverging in one direction, the converging ends terminating indownwardly bent hooks, and the diverging ends terminating respcctivelvTin right and left horizontally disposed hooks in superposed relation andcrossing one another at their free ends, the terminal of the upper hookbeing bent downwardly to form a locking finger engaging the outer sideof the bottom hook, there- Y by forming a closed eye, the eye of oneunit being coupled to the downwardly projecting hooks of the nextsucceeding unit, and transverse links terminating in downwardly turnedhooks coupled to the eyes of the longitudinal units.

5. In a fabric of the character described, a link unit comprising twowire links divergino` from one another and terminating at the convergingend in a hook formation disposed in a given plane, the diverging endsterminating in superposed hooks turned in opposite directions andcrossing one another to form a closed eye, said eye being disposed in aplane transverse to the plane of disposition of the hook formation atthe opposite end of the unit.

6. In a fabric of the character described, a plurality of series oflongitudinal and transverse link members jointed to one another, eachjoint being formed by a convergence of four independent longitudinallinks disposed in pairs and two single transverse links, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH F. DAILY. Witnesses:

EMIL STAREK, ELSE M. SIEGEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

